This invention relates to improvements in sanding, buffing and polishing wheels rendering them economical to fabricate yet more rugged in construction, more efficient and satisfactory in use, adaptable to a wider variety of applications and less likely to lend themselves to malfunction in use.
The invention is particularly advantageous when embodied in a device capable of being fixed in the chuck of the power drive unit of a hand held tool and will be so described for purposes of illustration, but not by way of limitation.
The prior art of which the present inventors are aware comprises the following:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Date ______________________________________ 394,747 H. G. Wolcott December 18, 1888 564,587 W. Black July 28, 1896 2,194,577 A. Vonnegut March 26, 1940 2,418,966 T. L. Bonkowski April 15, 1947 2,535,637 B. L. Johnson December 26, 1950 2,767,526 J. O. Moran October 23, 1956 3,132,452 A. Block May 12, 1964 3,165,867 E. E. Murray January 19, 1965 3,486,276 A. Block December 30, 1969 3,540,169 G. R. Mahoney November 17, 1970 3,774,354 Donald M. Taylor November 27, 1973 ______________________________________
The present invention achieves an elimination of various undesirable features of the prior art devices. It enables a greater loading capacity for a wheel of the type described, with respect to the sanding, buffing or polishing material which it utilizes for its intended function. At the same time, it features a unique mode of projecting such material from and with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the wheel, as and when required. The design of the housing for the abrasive surface material is such to lend it strength and at the same time to facilitate an optimal orientation of the material in use. An improved backing device for the working portions of the abrasively surfaced strip material which the invention employs insures a firmly backed relation of those portions of the abrasive material which are operative and in a manner to facilitate the adapting of the material to the work surface to which it is applied to provide it with a uniform surfacing operation, the uniformity being to a degree not heretofore found in the art. These and other features of distinction which lend improvements over the prior art will become evident from the following description of a preferred embodiment.